Improvement in feathering- paddle-wheels



N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPMER. WASHINGTON. lD. cA

ltitml tant WILLIAM R. MANLEY, OF NEW YORK, Y., ASSIGNOR TO HIM- -SELF AND WILLIAM H. WEBB, OF SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 87,861, dated March 1c, 1869.

The Schedine referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of 4the samie.

To all whom 'it ma/y conce/rn Be it known that I, WILLIAM R. MANLEY, of the I city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feathering Paddle-Wheels for steamships; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention.

My invention relates to that class of feathering paddle-wheels in which a rigid controlling-frame or revolving frame, with a fixed series of arms, is 4used to control the positions of the paddles; and the object of the invention is to enable the ordinary radial paddle-,wheels to be converted into eiicient featbering paddle-wheels of the said class, with the least lpossible expenditure.

My invention consists of the combination of the movablepaddles or paddle-boards of the wheel, with a rigid impossible.

In order that this invention may be fully understood,l I have represented, in the accompanying drawing, a suicient portion of a paddle-wheel, embodying it, .to

illustrate the invention, and Iwillproceed to describe the same.

Figure l represents a view of portions of the inner sides of said feathering paddle-'wheel and its controllingframe; and

Figure 2 represents a vertical section of the same with some ofthe parts in elevation.

Tbe'frame A, of the paddle-wheel, is constructed, in the usual manuel', of a series of rings, b b, and arms d d, the last of which are secured at their inner ends to hubs f, that are mounted upon and secured to the paddle-wheel shaft B.

The paddles,or paddle-boards O, are constructed to rock, being secured to rock-shafts c, whose journals turn in bearings'supported by the arms l of the frame.

The controlling-flame D, which determines the positionsof the paddles, is composed of series of arms g, secured rigidly to each other by rings h, and. secured at their inner ends, to'a ring-hubE, so that the frame is rigid, and the arms do not oscillate independently upon pivots at their inner ends. This rigid controllingframe is arranged at the inner side of the paddle-wheel, and its ring-hub E is constructed to turn upon an eccentric, H, that is constructed, as hereinafter described, with the side of the ship, so that it cannot revolve with the controlling-frame. A

The.. eccentric H surrounds-the paddle-Wheel shaft B, whichpasses through an opening, my, in the eccen-I tric, sufficiently large to permit the shaft to turn freely,

the opening being so much larger than4 the shaft, that there is a ee space all round between the periphery of the shaft and the interior ofthe said opening.

The mode in which the eccentric is connected with the side of the ship is by an arm I, which is made fast to the eccentric, and is received into the socket of a socketfplate, J, that is secured to the side of the ship.

The arm Iis free to move in said socket, but is prevented iom working endwise out of it by a plate, l,

and bolt n, at the inner end of the arm. 'lhe controlling-frame is connected with the paddles by cranks k, which project from the rock-shafts e.

In the combination of parts thus described, the controlling-frame, being rigid, cannot descend, except the ends of its arms move in curved lines, (represented by the dotted' lines s s, of which the axes of journals of the paddle-boards are the centres,) and, therefore, laterally, to a vertical linedawn throughthe axis of the supporting-arm I. Consequently, so long as the supporting-arm I holds the eccentric H sufficiently to prevent such lateral movement, it Will hold the controllingframe from deviating materially from its proper place, even if there be play at the arm between the eccentric and the socket-plate secured to the side of the ship.

Hence there may be movement at said arm, to permit the eccentric and the controlling-frame to accommodate themselves to the movement of the paddle-wheel and its shaft under strains; and the'arm constructed to move in the socket-plate, constitutes a flexible connection between the eccentric and the side of the ship, for that purpose.

This combination abrds a convenient and eicient means of converting .an ordinary radi'al paddle-wheel into an efiicient feathcring paddle-wheel, because the shaft and frame of the paddle-Wheel and the outboard pillow-block of the shaft, need not be altered, and because there is a suiiicient iiexibilityl in the combination to permit the controlling-frame to accommodate itself to variations in the position of the shaft and paddleboards, without creating undue friction,and without materially affecting the proper feathering-action of the paddle-boards.

In constructing the'wheel upon this plan, I prefer to connect the eccentric directly with the side of the ship, but it may be applied to the outer side of the paddle-wheel, and connected indirectly with the side of the ship, through the guard of the wheel.

What I claim as my invention, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

-Therelative arrangement and combination of the movable paddles of the feathering paddle-wheel, the

ligid controlling-frame, the eccentric, constructed with an opening, in 4which the paddle-wheel shaft revolves, and the flexible connection between said eccentric and the side of the ship, the whole being constructed to operate substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my hand, this 3d day of September, A. D. 1868;

' W. R. MANLEY. Witnesses:

W. L. BENNEM, Jeux RATHBONE, Jr. 

